This invention relates to electronic musical instruments, and more particularly relates to such instruments in which a keyboard is used by a performer to establish a desired harmony.
Electronic musical instruments, such as keyboard-controlled electronic organs, have experienced wide acceptance among muscians. Since many of these instruments are sold to amateurs, manufacturers place special emphasis on the ease of playing. In particular, the electronic musical instrument industry has long sought a method of deriving the chord type and root desired by a performer from his manipulation of the keyboard.
Past attempts in this direction have met with only limited success. For example, some instruments, such as a chord organ, require the performer to press a separate key for each chord type or root he desires. Although this device is a step in the right direction, it is cumbersome to a musician who normally defines the harmony desired by playing on a keyboard.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to derive the harmony desired by a performer from his manipulation of a standard keyboard.
Another object is to facilitate a technique of the foregoing type in which the harmony is defined in terms of a chord type and root.
Yet another object is to provide a technique of the foregoing type which can be implemented by a microprocessor having only an eight bit data bus.
Still another object is to provide a technique of the foregoing type in which a minimum of processing time and digital memory is required.